Health: dengue takes hold in mainland France

In Limeil-Brévannes (Val-de-Marne), the first case in Île-de-France of autochthonous dengue fever was detected during the week of Monday October 16. Dengue fever, a disease with symptoms similar to the flu, is transmitted by the tiger mosquito, the proliferation of which in mainland France is increasing the number of cases. Between May and October 2023, Public Health France counted 36 cases of so-called autochthonous dengue fever, that is to say contracted directly in mainland France.

How to explain these cases?

How does this tropical disease reach Europe? “This type of infections in general, when they are diagnosed in France, are people who have travelled, that is to say who are returning from a country where this disease is common”, explains the professor Jean-Daniel Harehead of the infectious disease department atAP-HP. In Loire-Atlantique for example, 38 cases were detected, mainly in people returning from Guadeloupe or Martinique, where dengue fever, in the epidemic phase, has already caused 12 deaths since the end of July.